#1
Back when I was a kid in the South, you could get a pile of "collector's item" Confederate dollars for a few pennies. Wish I had picked up some more, since their exchange rate with USD's is heading toward parity.

The bill raised taxes by over $600 billion, in addition to Obamacare taxes already coming on line, yet the Senators can claim it was a massive tax cut because the vote took place after midnight, so technically the Bush tax cuts already had expired.

#4
Destitution yes, economic collapse no. It won't be 1930's level, our standard of living has just risen to much I think to fall that much with JUST economics. Though this still has to get through the House. There's palatable, then there's stupid. 41-1. Will mean quite a few ends to congressional careers. 2014 will see ALOT of Primary challenges.

#7
Jerry Pournelle made some relevant comments:I note that there is frantic last minute activity in Congress, but I also note that it is more devoted to turning off the sequester which is the only real spending cut in the future. No one is looking at fraud and waste, bunny inspectors, government activities we would be better off without. Soak the rich is now the goal for a lot of Democrats. By the rich is generally meant those whose income is salaries and bonuses, people paid through stock options for engaging in high risk enterprises, etc. People who move money around in circles generally find ways to defer income in ways that dont get hit with income taxes. And of course there are many perks that come with wealth but which dont look like income.

The President wants to pound the rich. He doesnt care what that does to investment climates. And no one is going to make any cuts to entitlements.

At some point, one would suspect, the American people will have had enough; but that will take a while. And Congress gets a raise. Their staffers get a raise. Government employee pensions continue to rise, and the courts are now saying that cities cant stop paying into pension funds even if they go bankrupt, and the idiots who bought city bonds have less claim on a bankrupt citys money than the pensioned off employees.

#9
assuming HR8, aka the American Tax Relief Act of 2012, passes the house and is signed, the spending battle will be fought two months from now when the sequesters kick in certain Treasury measures that are being used to manage the national debt run out.

#10
Do we have to "read the bill to find out what's really in it?" The full impact, it this passes will be painful. The current complexion of the House is, in a big way, due to people feeling 'taxed enough already'. I hope that membership, Mr. Boehner included, remembers that and acts accordingly when it gets to them for a vote.

#11
With some exceptions, the entire Congressional establishment is pavlovian now on polling (thanks Clintons) and cannot understand push polling adequately to dismiss much of what is responsive to it. We are governed almost exclusively now by perception not principle, and careerism not commitment, so sadly, the Republic has drifted to the rapacious democracy that will want all that is promised like the mob in Rome. Bread and circuses and no understanding of the destruction that is rendering the future more and more impoverished and bleak. I never imagined the rot would be so fast.....

The U.S. Senate passed a plan to avert the "fiscal cliff" at midnight Monday, which would extend current tax rates for most American households and postpone the automatic spending cuts that threaten a new recession.

The bill came too late for the Congress to meet its deadline of New Year's Eve for passing laws to halt a combination of tax increases and spending cuts totaling more than 600 billion dollars, which strictly speaking came into force on Tuesday.

The bill cleared the Senate with a 89-8 vote, while its fate in the House of Representatives is uncertain.

The agreement emerged at Monday night after a day of intensive negotiations as both parties made last-ditch efforts to bridge differences.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who negotiated the deal with the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, went to Capitol Hill Monday night to build support among senators.

The plan would prevent a tax rate rise on individuals with an annual income below 400,000 U.S. dollars and households making up to 450,000 dollars.

Meanwhile, the start of 1.2 trillion dollars in automatic spending cuts over 10 years, known as the "sequester," would be put off for two months. It had been scheduled to begin with the new year.

Under the deal, jobless insurance benefits for about 2 million long-term unemployed would be extended for a year.

The Republicans dropped their long-term resistance to higher tax rates and accepted a delay in spending cuts, while the Democrats compromised on the income threshold for tax rise and softened their stance on estate taxes.

The plan still needs approval from the House of Representatives that adjourns till Tuesday noon and a vote is expected on Tuesday at the earliest. It is uncertain whether it would get enough GOP support.

#8
A number of Guam patrons, both local + stateside, argue that only the outbreak of a major war can save the US Economy from the US Govt, as the GOP-DEMS have shown its more important to get re-elected + NOT be held accountable for anything bad than to effec or permanently solve a Prob(s).

SNAFU > CHINA-VS-JAPAN IN EAST ASIA = Once again, the US has NOT been in a direct military confrontation wid a major Nuclear Power since 1962 [Cuba = POTUS JFK] + 1973 [Yom Kippur = POTUS Nixon], both vee the then-USSR. HISTORY SUGGESTS THAT CHINA WILL LIKELY UNILATER SHOOT FIRST - THERE WILL BE JAPANESE CASUALTIES + QUITE POSSIBLY US CASUALTIES.

[An Nahar] Last minute talks stalled Sunday between top U.S. politicians aimed at averting a fiscal calamity due to hit within hours, as Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for a lack of progress.It's about what I thought would happen. The Dems are sticking with their spend, spend, spend position and making the "fiscal cliff" happen. When it does, taxes go up, up, up, and they'll do their best to hang the blame on the Publicans. The Publicans being as inept as they are, they'll end up with it.
Top Democrats and Republicans groped for a compromise before a punishing package of government spending cuts and tax hikes come into force on January 1 which could roil global markets and send the U.S. economy back into recession.

Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell warned that, despite through-the-night talks, negotiators were still a long way from success, as they raced against the ebbing 2012 calendar in search of a compromise.

McConnell said he had got no response to a "good faith offer" to Senate Democrats, and called on his old friend and sparring partner Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid BidenThe former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... to join the fray in the hope of breaking the stalemate.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ... agreed talks were at a standstill, raising the prospect that Americans will ring in the New Year with no deal to avert a budget disaster known as the "fiscal cliff."

Reid said Democrats were unwilling to brook talk of social security cuts.

"This morning, we have been trying to come up with some counteroffer to my friend's proposal," Reid told the Senate. "We have been unable to do that."

Earlier, Democratic President Barack ObamaOn this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today... , accused Republicans of causing the mess, saying they had refused to move on what he said were genuine offers of compromise from Democrats.

"Now the pressure's on Congress to produce," Obama said, in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that was recorded on Saturday, a day after he expressed modest optimism that a deal could be reached.

Obama said it had been "very hard" for top Republican leaders to accept that "taxes on the wealthiest Americans should go up a little bit, as part of an overall deficit reduction package."

But Republicans were irked by Obama's tone and matched his accusations. The ugly mood could suggest that hopes for a consensus are fading -- or be the kind of political-base pleasing rhetoric that sometimes heralds a compromise.

"Americans elected President B.O. to lead, not cast blame," said House Republican speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans..., arguing Republicans sought a 'balanced' deficit deal while Obama insisted on higher taxes that would kill jobs.

"We've been reasonable and responsible. The president is the one who has never been able to get to 'yes.'"

#4
Obama Blames Republicans as Fiscal Cliff Looms
And the sad thing is that the entire Repub party doesn't have the balls to stand up and turn the entire thing around; this was pretty appearent during the election and the same bunch of enuchs are still running the gop.
Bammy and company are playing them for the pussies they are.

[NY Times] Like many public schools here, University City High School is underused, underfinanced and underperforming.

In other words, physical consolidation is overdue. Rightsizing, as they call it nowadays in the private sector.

Nearly 80 percent of its 11th-grade students read below grade level in statewide tests this year, while 85 percent failed to make the grade in math. Last year, about only a quarter of its students participated in precollege testing like the SAT.

Largely because of the lure of local charter schools, the school is one-quarter full, with fewer than 600 students for its nearly 2,200 seats. It needs major work on its infrastructure, including lighting and heating systems, that would cost an estimated $30 million.

Now, facing deep financial problems, the Philadelphia School District has proposed an unprecedented downsizing that would close 37 campuses by June -- roughly one out of six public schools, including University City. If the sweeping plan is approved, the district says it will improve academic standards by diverting money used for maintaining crumbling buildings to hire teachers and improve classroom equipment.

The 237-school district faces a cumulative budget deficit of $1.1 billion over the next five years, after $419 million in state cuts to educational financing this year. The district's problems are compounded by the end of federal stimulus money and rising pension costs.

#2
I didn't want to read the source article since I might exceed my quota of NYT articles. I would bet the source does not mention the average $ spent/ student 'educated' in the Philly school district. In general, a vast amount of funds are paid per primary & high school student, with poor and ever diminishing returns.

A coalition of community groups that includes the city's teachers union is calling for a temporary halt to the Philadelphia School District's plans to close 37 schools. District officials say they welcome the group's input, but that it's too late to stop the closures.

"If we restored the 2008 funding formula, we would not be in this deficit," said Andi Perez, head of Students United for Change and part of PCAPS. "If we closed tax loopholes. If we collected more property taxes [Philadelphia already has 96,000-plus tax delinquent property owners], the citizens who actually pay their taxes will have to shell out even more. already as . There's series of things that the city and state could do to increase revenue for Philadelphia public schools, and for public schools around the state."

[Breitbart] More than 800 new laws will go into effect in 2013 in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,. The new laws cover a vast array of issues including internet privacy, giving drivers licenses to children of undocumented Democrats, banning psychotherapy for young gay teens and the use of dogs when hunting bobcats or bears.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.